John J. Burroughs

John J. Burroughs (1798-1872) was an American lawyer and Clerk of the Circuit Court for Princess Anne County, Virginia (now the City of Virginia Beach).

John J. Burroughs was born in either Essex County or Middlesex County, Virginia on October 10, 1798. He was the eldest child of lighthouse builder and keeper Elzy Burroughs.

John J. Burroughs became the longest serving Clerk of the Circuit Court for Princess Anne County in its history. During the Civil War, John J. Burroughs was the only functioning remnant of civil government in Princess Anne County while it was occupied by Union forces. Two of John J. Burroughs' sons were John J. ("Jack") Burroughs, Jr. and Judge William H. Burroughs, both prominent local attorneys and businessmen in Princess Anne County history, and both educated at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Mr. Burroughs' descendants remained prominent in Princess Anne County government and politics until the early 1930's, when a "throw the bums out attitude", rising out of the din of the economic Depression, led to a wholesale change of County leadership.

Mr. Burroughs was considered a progressive for his day, and was active in the efforts of the American Colonization Society to assist former slaves from Virginia to voluntarily resettle in the new nation of Liberia, in West Africa. There was little interest from the County's former slaves in this initiative, however.

In recognition of his important role in Princess Anne County history, Mr. Burroughs' portrait hangs on the wall within the modern City of Virginia Beach Municipal Center to this day.

ources

Virginia's Ninth President Joseph Jenkins Roberts, Edited by C.W. Tazewell, W.S. DAWSON CO., Virginia Beach, Virginia 23466, 1992. ISBN 1-878515-23-3

ee also

[http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=bburroug&id=I237 Burroughs Family Genealogy] [http://www.newpointcomfort.com/history/history_html/lh_history.html History of New Point Comfort Lighthouse]